Official program launch scheduled for Thursday, July 14 in downtown Miami

Miami, July 13, 2011 -
Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Center for Service Excellence (CSE), in partnership with and funded by Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), will once again bring the widely recognized “Miami Begins With Me” service initiative to the community.

This latest version of the service initiative was designed by the CSE specifically for taxicab drivers and will be presented during a 3-hour customer service training on Thursday, July 14, at the offices of the Miami-Dade County Consumer Services Department in downtown Miami. Working media is invited to attend.

The customer service training is part of the drivers’ mandatory week-long Taxicab Chauffeur Apprenticeship Program. Over the course of the next year the CSE will train more than 500 taxi drivers at up to 18 sessions of the apprenticeship training program. The program emphasizes the importance of the “first impression” role that taxicab drivers play to the millions of visitors that arrive in Miami each year.

“Tourism is Greater Miami’s number one industry, supporting more than 112,000 leisure and hospitality jobs in our community,” said William D. Talbert, III, CDME, GMCVB’s president and CEO. “With 98 percent of our visitors arriving by air, taxi drivers are often the first point of contact for visitors to our destination. Their role of providing excellent customer service and hospitality is vital to enhancing the visitor experience.”

Utilizing an interactive group discussion/activity format, workshop participants will develop a true appreciation for the need to make sure that their customers feel heard, understood, liked, respected, helped, appreciated and most importantly welcomed to Miami.

About the Center for Service Excellence (CSE)

Since October 2009, Miami Dade College’s Center for Service Excellence has partnered with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau’s “Miami Begins with Me” campaign to provide innovative customer service training for organizations in the public and private sectors. To date, the CSE has customized training programs for several major organizations throughout South Florida, including 11,250 badged employees of Miami International Airport; 527 employees at the Port of Miami; 60 staff members of the City of Hialeah’s Water and Sewer Department; 630 employees of Community Health of South Florida (CHI); the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers; 250 members of the Miami-Dade County Public School’s Adult Education Department; the Hilton Bentley; Theracorp; Seccion Amarilla; and others. In 2010, the CSE won the Innovation of the Year Award from the League for Innovation, and was awarded a State of Florida Quick Response Training grant for Visa’s new call center in Miami.

Miami Dade College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate and baccalaureate degrees.
Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Miami Dade College.
Miami Dade College is an equal access/equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, marital status, age, religion, national origin,
disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, or genetic information. Contact the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs/ADA Coordinator, at 305.237.2577 for information.